Short Hills Provincial Park

General Information

Short Hills Provincial Park is the largest park in the Niagara Region. It's part of an environmentally significant area known as the Fonthill Kame Moraine. A kame is an irregular hill of sand, gravel and silt which accumulates in a depression on a retreating glacier, and is then deposited on the land surface as the glacier melts.

If you look southwest on a clear day from open sections along Cataract Road, you can see the highest point of the Fonthill Kame rising above the landscape, about 5 or 6 kilometers distant. The 'short hills' throughout the park are the result of erosional forces of glacial meltwater and other runoff, which carved out the many steep valleys and also created the valley of the Twelve Mile Creek more than twelve thousand years ago.

Within the 660 hectare boundaries of Short Hills Provincial Park, there are seven trails designated as multi-use or hiking only, and an accessible path called the Paleozoic Trail that affords views of Swazye Falls.

You'll find a rich variety of plant and animal species in the park. These range from Carolinian forest species like pawpaw and tulip tree to white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, and many other birds.

Short Hills Provincial Park offers excellent pathways and stunning scenery, so a visit is highly recommended.

The park is quite large, but has only three officially sanctioned entrances, all with parking. The use of unsanctioned entrances and informal trails is discouraged, as is roadside parking.

Click on the appropriate link below if you would like to add one or more of these entrances to your itinerary:

Directions from Toronto and points west of Niagara to Pelham Road entrance:
1. QEW Niagara: Take exit 51 (Seventh Street)
2. Travel south on Seventh Street towards the Niagara Escarpment, away from the lake
3. Turn left on St. Paul Street West
4. Turn right on Fifth Street Louth
5. Turn left on Pelham Road
6. Turn ight at Pelham Street North into parking lot (watch for park sign)

From points south and east:
1. From QEW towards Toronto, take exit 48 for Martindale Rd toward County Rd-38
2. Turn right at Martindale Rd (signs for County Rd-38/Martindale Rd) (2.8 km)
3. Continue on Louth St (3.1 km)
4. Turn right at Pelham Rd (3.5 km)
5. Turn left at Pelham St North (watch for park sign)